Phenol-carbohydrate resin and method of making same



Patented Apr. 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAMES MOINTOSH, OF NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, T CONTINENTAL-DIAMOND FIBRE COMPANY, OF NEWARK, DELAWARE, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE PHENOL-CARBOHYDRATE RESIN AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME No Drawing. Original application filed August 12,1920, Serial 110. 403,125. Divided and filed January 22, 1924, Serial No. 687,877. Renewed January 2'7, 1930.

My invention relates to that class of condensation products utilizing phenol or one of its homologues as one of its ingredients, and one object of said invention is to provide a 5 new condensation product of the above class which shall employ in its formation that class of chemical compounds known as carbohydrates andmore especially starch.

This application is filed as a division of my application Serial No. 403,125, filed August 12, 1920. It is also desired to provide a synthetic resin which shall be inexpensive and eas to make, whose nature shall be such as to fit 1t for use as a shellac substitute, as a waterproofing agent for impregnatingsheet', tube and rod material made of paper, woven or felted fabric, parchmentized fibre and for the many other uses requiring a hard relatively infusible, insoluble and structurally strong, light, tough substance.

*Another object of the invention is to provide a synthetic resin of the above class which shall be available for use as a non-conductor of high dielectric value which shall be water and oilproof and which may be prepared in soluble or insoluble form at will, being, when in soluble form, capable of further treatment whereby it may be changed at will into its insoluble and infusible form. I

I also desire to provide a condensation product which in its initial stage or form may be utilized in connection with powdered materlal such as wood, flour, asbestos, or other inert substances from which articles may be subsequently molded under heat and pressure whereby said product is transferred to its final solid and infusible form.

It is further desired to provide a novel method of making the above noted condensation product; the invention being designed to provide a relatively simple, inexpensive and easily operated process whereby products of the above class may be made.

ten to twenty drops of sulphuric acid, and this In a typical case, I form a mixture of one this application mixture I then boil from five to sixhours under an air reflux condenser at the end of which time the liquid on standing separates into two layers. The top layer isthen drawn off and after being washed with water to remove all traces of the catalytic agent,consists of a dark It may be used in the manufacture of molded articles, etc., as well as employed for any of the purposes for which other phenolic condensation products are now utilized, being especially valuable as a shellac substitute. When in the initial or semi-solid stage it may be employed as a base in the manufacture of varnish and may be used for the impregnation of vulcanized fibre or fabrics in sheet, tube,

block or rod form, after which upon the a 5 plication of suitable heat such as that resu tingfrom 125 lbs. steam pressure and a pressure of say one thousand pounds per square inch for from one to five hours or more, depending upon the dimensions and form, it may be caused to change to its final or solid form.

In. making a laminated structure such as block or sheet, the above condensation product in its liquid ortsemisolid initial stage is is dissolved in from fifty to sixty parts of an organic solvent such as alcohol or acetone and is caused to uniformly permeate the sheet or other fibrous or porous body either by directly soaking the latter in said liquid or by any other known method. The impregnated sheets or other structures are dried in a vachundred and twenty-five pounds pressure for a period depending upon the thicknessand dimensions of said material. Tubes or rods may be made from the above described impregnated sheet material by winding the latter on a mandrel of suitable dimensions andthereafter subjecting it to heat and pressure such as above indicated.

In any case, the resulting product is unaffected by moisture and by the ordinary or ganic solvents, it has a high mechanical strength and is especially adapted for mechanical and electrical purposes, being particularly useful in,the manufacture of gears, electrical insulators, phonograph records etc.

Without departing from my inventionfI may vary the proportions of the carbohydrate and of the phenolic body employed therewith and I may also vary the temperatures, pressures and time of treatment. In place of phenol, I may employ any of its omologues such as o-m-p-cresol or any compound containing a hydroxyl radical joined to a benzene ring, substituted or not.

W'hile the condensation product in its initial stage is a liquid or semi-liquid soluble inacetone, alcohol, benzol, etc., in its final form it is infusible and insoluble in the above noted and other ordinary organic solvents, being a hard, tough, resinous substance, breaking with a lustrous fracture and of a dense, homogeneous structure.

It is be desired to accelerate the reaction above described, suitable proportions of hardening agents may be added prior to the subjection of the initial condensationproduct to heat and pressure, and as typical of these I may use hexamethylenetetramine,

benzidine acetone, sodium acetone bisulphite. As t pical of catalytic agents which may be emp oyed in place of sulphuric acid, I may use bromine, yridine, sulphur monochloride, aniline hydi'ochloride, etc.

Certain catalysts, I find for certain uses, cause deleterious effects on the materials used to form the objects made from the resin and therefore, the removal of the catalystmay be desirable. The catalyst may be removed by simply washin out with water or any other solvent of t e catalyst in which the resin is insoluble, this removal by a purely pllliysical method, is best done after the first sible and soluble condensation product is formed, as heat alone without catalytic assistance will cause the condensation to be: come total and give a hard, infusible insolubleproduct.

If the introduction of water or other solvent as mentioned above is not desirable, the catalyst may be removed by chemical means, i. e., introducing some substance, inert in itself towards the materials which the catalyst destroys but reactive Withthe catalyst, forming a non-reactive or inert substance which in-small quantity does not affect the desirable properties of the condensation barium'sulphate formed may act as a filler.

If bromine is to be removed, I add an alcoholi'c solut1on of ammonia, and the ammonium bromide which is chiefly formed, --1s inert.

When in its initial stage, the cqndensation product may be dissolved in alcohol, acetone, benzene, etc. and thereafter mixed with wood flour, asbestos, or other organic or inorganic material, after which the solvent may be removed by heat. The resulting mass may then be ground or otherwise reduced to a powder which may be readily molded to any desired form by subjecting it while in the mold to a pressure of approximately one thousand pounds to the square inch at a temperature equivalent to that of steam at one hundred and twenty-five pounds pressure and for a period of time depending upon the dimensions and form of the object being molded,- the pressure and h being continued in any case for a time s cient to cause the condensation product to assume it final infusible and solid form. A

I claim:

1. A synthetic resin consisting of a hard, dense, lustrous, infusible, insoluble resinous solid constituting the final product of the reaction of a phenol and starch.

2. A synthetic resin consisting of ahard, dense, lustrous, infusible, insoluble resinous solid prepared by further heating the initial condensation product resulting from the reaction of a phenol and starch in the presence of a catalyst.

3. The compound resulting from the reaction of a phenol and starch which consists of the fusible, soluble initial condensation product, said initial condensation product being capable of assuming an infusible, insoluble form by continued heating.

4. The compound resulting tion of a phenol, starch and a catalyst, which consists of a viscous liquid soluble in ordinary organic solvents and capable of being ma e to assume a solid, infusible, insoluble form by continued heating.

-5. The compound resulting from the reaction of a phenol, starch and a catalyst when heated, whichconsists of aresinous solid, soluble in ordinary organic solvents and fusible and capable of being changed into an infus- /ible,' insoluble solid when subjected to continued heat.

6. The process which consists in causing a phenol and starch to react until there is produced an initial condensation roduct, and

thereafter heating the same to o tain a hard,

from the reaci tough, homogeneous resinous solid which is insoluble in the ordinary organic solvents and is infusible.

7 The process which consists in heating together a phenol, starch and a catalyst until there is produced an initial condensation product, and thereafter heating the same to obtain a hard, tough, homogeneous solid which is insoluble in the ordinary organic solvents and is infusible.

8. The process which consists in causing a phenol and starch to react to form a liquid soluble in the ordinary organic solvents and capable of being changed to an infusible, insoluble, dense solid by continued heating.

9. The process which consists in heating a phenol, starch and a catalytic body until there is formed a liquid soluble in the ordinary organic solvents and capable of being changed to an infusible, insoluble, dense solid by continued heating. I

10. A synthetic resin consisting of a hard, dense, lustrous, infusible, insoluble resinous solid constituting the final product of the reaction of the initial condensation product of a phenol and starch, with a hardening agent.

11, A synthetic resin consisting of a hard, dense, lustrous, infusible, insoluble resinous solid constituting the final product of the reaction of the initial condensation product of a phenol and starch, with hexamethylenetetramine.

12. The process which consists in causing being converted into a hard, infusible, insoluble resin by heat.

17. A potentially reactive product resulting from the addition of a hardening agent to the initial condensation product obtained by reacting starch and a henol.

18. The herein descri ed method whichheat. JAMES MoINTOSH.

starch and a phenol to react to form an initial condensation product, adding a hardening agent to said product, and heating the mixture to cause the conensation product to assume its solid, infusible form.

13. The process which consists in causing starch and a phenol to react to form an initial condensation product, adding hexamethylenetetramine to said product, and heating the mixture to cause the condensation product to assume its solid. infusible form.

14. The process which consists in heating together starch, a phenol and a catalyst until there is formed an initial condensation product, adding a hardening agent to said prod uct, and heating the mixture to cause the conensation product to assume its solid, infusible form.

15. The process which consists in heating together starch, a phenol and a catalyst until there is formed an initial condensation product, adding hexamethylenetetramine to said product, and heating the mixture to cause the condensation product to assume its solid in fusible form.

16. The process which consists in causing starch and a phenol to react to form an initial condensation product, adding a hardening agent to this initial product to form a potentially reactive product which is capable of 

